Hot Rods UPDATE FOUND! Minneapolis Dark Red Rose 1932 hiboy sedan.

Here's the feature.

 

So cool man!

 

Wow!!!

 

So good to see. Congrats!

 

That's a nice story, but that car is so cool that one can't help falling in love.
I would try to use a different word to express my feelings towards this car, but I can only come up with one: awesome!

Will it get bike fenders and bobbed rear again?

 

This is such a cool story with a great ending!

 

If this is the old Henry Orfield car, I knew the guy that had it in the mid sixties. He bought the car with no drivetrain, and we were in the process of putting a SBC into it with a late model rear end. I had everything tacked together when the owner got impatient and decided to take it out and try it out before I had finished welding the rear suspension up and adding gussets. Of course, the rear suspension tore out when he did the first power launch and screwed up the body a bit. I was pretty disgusted with the whole thing and washed my hands of it. I had heard he sold it and a subsequent owner installed a nailhead. I remember that he did have a copy of that old "Cars and Clubs" magazine, so I am almost certain it is the same car. I remember we used to joke about the Henry Ford/Henry Orfield connection.

 

I haven't ruled out putting the cycle fenders on it again, but we will see. I need to get the car home first! I am headed over Saturday to pick it up, and from there come up with a plan.

 

Cool deal Eric! Looks like it will be a blast. I'll have to head over and check it out some day soon.

 

Congrats!

 

So far the best I found the car I was looking for story this year.
The big bonus is you now own it!
Good Luck with your new old ride!
KK

 

John had said Henry passed away several years ago. I did reach out to the family through a round about way and fortunately Henry's son replied back that he had a chance to check this thread out and was surprised to say the least.

Ironically he doesn't live very far at all from where the car is located, so were going to see If we can meet up on Saturday so he can take a few pictures, and he is going to see if he can find any more early pictures of the car.

 

Henry's son Kevin, just shot me a few photographs taken while the car was being built.
Check these out.
Top is chopped , the cowl vent is filled, custom firewall, hood mounts, Mercury flathead, and there is a 32 three window in the background, lower picture shows the louvered hood.

 

Craig, Maybe this Buick motor will give yours a run for the money!

 

Wow, those two old pisc are amazing!

 

Man, fantastic car and story. Congrats on becoming the next caretaker!

 

So glad to see this motor in the car, really another great find, sometimes I just get tired of being your friend, ha.

 

where did the car go after going to Florida?

 

Actually it never made it out of the Milwaukee area. That must have been a rumor, or a different car.

 

I was kinda surprised about the lack of response to my post of yesterday. This lead me to question my memory, so I contacted a friend from back in the old days that not only remembers the car, but was also there when "the incident" occurred. Not only that, but he sent me a picture his wife took of the car in 1965. This was taken in the Lake Minnetonka area west of Minneapolis. Sorry for the small size of the picture, all we could afford in 1965 were $9.95 Kodak "Brownies". If I remember correctly, we towed the car from St. Louis Park to the buyers house in Wayzata. The car was full-fendered when he got it and was painted red primer. Take a look at the picture; I think the chop says it all. If that doesn't convince you, take a good look at the grille insert.

 

I used to have that issue of cars and clubs.
I admired that sedan and even wondered what became of it.
Glad to see it is in good hands. I look forward to updates as you return it closer to its origins!

 

Tubman, Thanks for that picture! That helps fill in some of the timeline, and cruising the lakes will tie into my next post. When Ken Thiele got the car in the 90's it was full fendered. He pulled and sold them to a guy in Rochester (I might track that down too.)

 

Here is an email that I got from Kevin,
I asked my mom for some memories:


“I have a lot of memories from a girl's perspective. He got it when he was still in high school 16-17, but worked on it over time, due to money. He started working on it at Papa's and then rented a garage a block away. I can't count the number of hours I would just sit around watching him work on his car. We rode around in it a lot, including have friends along for the ride. We would drive up and down Lake Street from beginning in Mpls. to end in St. Paul. That was our place to cruise. Then, we'd hang out at Porky's drive-in on Lyndale Ave. He went to several car shows and acquired a lot of trophies. Some were local where I could attend. Others were out of town, like Chicago, etc., so he went alone. We also went to the drag races on a strip north of town on Sundays. He wasn't always the winner, but we sure had fun. I remember going down to Lake Harriet in the winter and doing donut spins on the ice. Loved that.


“To me, the car was beautiful. He did the interior in a sort of light rose color because I said I would like that. He loved that car and so did I.”


Feel free to share that on your thread. I can’t even tell you how special it is to my mom that I/you found the car!


By the way, “The Dark Red Rose.” My dad later became a passionate gardener and rosarian. He was a member of the Minneapolis Men’s Garden Club and judged rose shows. He was very passionate about other things too like photography. He passed that passion on to me – in my case electric guitars, blues, and photography as well.


Kev

 

I like the "girl's perspective" story. It's a lot less about technical details and timelines, more about how it felt at the time. That's priceless.

 

hey Tubman, the quality of the small old photos are great, they just need to be scanned on a higher resolution and blown up larger. i tried blowing it up but the resolution it was scanned it was low.

JEFF

 

Titus, I'll talk to my friend and see if I can get him to re-scan the picture and get it blown up. Given the interest in this, I think it would be worth my while to take it someplace that specializes in this sort of thing and pay to have it done right. Problem is, this may take a while, since I'm in Florida, and my friend and the picture are back in Minnesota.

 

"Rumor" isn't how I would phrase it and it's the same car. The guy that, told me the 32 was sold to some one in Florida was the guy that, bought the 32 in Minnesota and brought it to Milwaukee. So, if it never left Milwaukee. I have to wonder why Tim didn't didn't drive it all these years.
Curt R

 

Loaded and ready to head back to Minnesota


And stopped to meet Kevin and his boys so they could check the car out before hitting the road. Pretty cool that they got to check the car out.

 

Have a safe trip, and, Wow, what a hot rod!!

 

Love this story! Past, present, and it's future,